-Financial results improved year-on-year due to greater volume of products sold, and due to successful adjustments made to product selling prices.

Forged products

87,423

85,856

1.8

-Financial results improved year-on-year due to greater volume of products sold, and due to successful adjustments made to product selling prices.

Electromagnetic products

9,085

6,793

33.7

-Financial results improved due to the Company’s selling greater volumes of MI sensors and electronic parts.

Business Plan

-The Company will work on expanding sales of its Magfine magnetic particles for automotive motor applications. The Magfine designed for high-performance magnets makes for smaller and lighter motors. The company aims to expand use of the product, which is already employed in power seat and ABS motors, to compressor and fan motors as well. Adoption of high rotation motors allows for dramatically reducing the volume of magnets used, while maintaining high output and torque characteristics. The Company will present the product to automakers by underlining the cost advantages the compact and lightweight motor will offer. (From an article in the Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun on July 25, 2011)

Forged products-The Company's R&D activities in this sector included work on technology to improve the surfaces and lubricity of dies ; and technology to conduct automatic testing of forged and other parts.

-The Company is working on concrete initiatives directed at innovating facilities and processes used for each product.

-The Company developed technology to improve the oxidization resistance and heat resistance of anisotropic bonded neodymium (magfine) magnets.

Product Development

New magnet that should greatly reduce use of rare earth-The Company announced it has started commercial production of its new magnet that should greatly reduce use of rare earth. While neodymium magnets are generally alloyed with a rare earth, dysprosium (Dy), in order to raise their magnetic properties, the Company has established a new technology to ensure the high magnetic energy of 14-20 KOe without Dy. At the same time it has successfully made the magnet structure thinner-wall, which has reduced use of neodymium by 30%. The Company commercialized new ring magnets for electric tools and began production and supply in September. It plans to start supplying magnet products for motors installed in vehicle suspensions by the end of this year. (From an article in the Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun on October 3, 2011)

Investment in Japan

-The Company will install rolling equipment and establish a new inspection line at its Chita Plant (Tokai City, Aichi Prefecture), its production hub for steel products in Japan. The new functions will be directly connected to the plant's new bloom continuous casting line, which started operations just last month. The addition will build a seamless production structure, which includes production through verification, by 2015. Conducting product inspection immediately after they are finished will enhance operational efficiency, reduce production lead time and cut down on cost. (From an article in the Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun on July 8, 2011)

-The Company announced that it has set up a new bloom continuous caster at its Chita Plant in Tokai City, Aichi Prefecture to replace an aging No.1 equipment, and has started its operation. A bloom continuous caster is a machine to congeal melted steel into half-finished cast flakes. There are No.1 and No.2 equipment at the Chita Plant. To replace the No.1 caster that is already about 30 years old, a new third machine capable of casting one million ton steel a year was set up in the area adjacent to the existing equipment at a cost of 25 billion yen. It has adopted a "3-strand casting" structure and a larger size tundish to hold melted steel before it is sent to the casting process. It also features hydraulic vibration and mist cooling to improve quality on the surface. (From an article in the Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun on June 10, 2011)

Investment Outside Japan<Thailand>-The Company said that Aichi International (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (AIT) held a groundbreaking ceremony at its new plant site in Pin Thong, Chonburi on May 11. AIT currently engages in machining, inspection and shipment of engines and propeller shafts in Amata Nakorn, Chonburi. To meet an expected increase in demand in the future, Aichi Steel decided to establish an integrated production structure in Thailand, which includes forging operation. The Company is investing about 2 billion yen in the first phase of the construction project, planning operation launch in June 2012. According to the demand level, the company is intending to expand production further. The new Pin Thong facility will be built on a land area of approximately 100,000 square meters, which is six times that of the existing Amata Nakorn Plant scheduled to be closed after its function is transferred to the new facility. In the meantime, the Pin Thong Plant will have the same level of production capacity as AIT's current operation. Using forged parts manufactured at the Company's subsidiaries in the Philippines and China, the Amata Nakorn facility now produces 1 million engines and propeller shafts per month for installation on Toyota's Innovative International Multi-purpose Vehicles (IMVs). (From an article in the Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun on May 12, 2011)